1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to an engine assembly for an aircraft, of the type designed to be installed laterally on a rear part of the aircraft structure and which incorporates a turbo-shaft engine, for example of the turbojet or turbo-prop type.
2. Discussion of the Background
Such an engine assembly includes an attachment pylon designed to provide the interface between the turbo-shaft engine and the rear part of the fuselage, where this pylon usually forms an aerodynamic profile whose leading edge is equipped with anti-icing means. These means draw off hot air at the turbo-shaft engine that is then blown towards the internal surface of the leading edge through a hot air distribution channel running along this leading edge in order to provide anti-icing of the latter. This principle is also referred to as an “anti-icing” effect.
In addition, the rear part of the aircraft also includes system for supplying pressurised air, which incorporates a channel for hot air also generally drawn off the turbo-shaft engine. This channel usually leads through the engine attachment pylon, away from the means used for anti-icing, to be connected to a heat-exchanger also fed by cold air drawn from the exterior of the aircraft.
The multiplicity of the number of these channels only accentuates the recurrent problems of space occupied within the engine attachment pylon, a part of the aircraft that is in fact crossed by a multitude of items of equipment. Furthermore, this confinement within the pylon creates a heat-risk zone in the event of one of the channels rupturing, or in the event of a hot air leak.